[Ed P]

During the period I was travelling a lot in China titles were important. CEO, COO, and President were about as low as you could go if you wanted to meet people capable of making decisions. Never did make an Asian President, but I had a raft of Chief this, Head/Director of that titles. My only President title was in Africa where it really did not mean much.

We used to ask the Mandarin speaking secretaries to come up with impressive sounding names and titles (with of course ‘lucky’ phone numbers to go with them! (Lots of 8’s and 9s some 2s in the right place but no 4s (death) – the Chinese pun their numbers to words like crazy)

As a result I agree with Steve, titles mean naff all. Most companies object like hell if their titles are used in a political context. I’ll place a small bet that the ONS guy is breaking his contract of employment and/or pension terms!

[Ed P]

Annw Widdicombe is delusional if she thinks standing as an MEP will have any real impact on the actual Brexit process, all it will do is improve her pension if she gets in.

[Ed P]

Politicians ignore their election manifestos or screw it up, so we get another chance to change our minds.

Referenda are really no different, especially one based on the stupid slogan ‘Brexit means Brexit’. Which actually meant the politicians did not have a clue, and the public did not really know what they were voting for.

[Ed P]

Dave Rice wrote:

So just WTF does “Brexit means Brexit” mean to anyone?

No-one knows.

Last night’s 1922 Committee Meeting showed that even the hard-line Brexiteers did not know what they wanted and bottled doing anything. This whole Brexit shambles just keeps getting worse. We need another referendum to bring some clarity to everything.

[Ed P]

Richard’s last response is one for you one to keep an eye on, and step in if necessary. Sometimes just being a third party for the affected person helps.

Luckily for us our experience is only as helpful neighbours, but I did note that in half of those affected, love turned to hatred and violence at being confined or frustrated in chasing their demon. Two of the violent ones had to be sectioned as a result.

I think Richard probably has more practical experience, but sorting out finances as early as possible is a vital long term item.

[Ed P]

Wheels-Of-Fire wrote:

How do I download a file from GitHub ? I have an account and the desktop app but I cant see how its done. Someone called whitehatty has kindly posted updated versions of Mr Stroustrups files but I can’t get them. There is no master Zip.

I assume that you clicked on ‘Clone or Download’ (top right green box), and nothing happened.

Normally this gives you the option to download a zip file of the code. If it did not work for you try again as the 12.4Mb download worked just fine for me.

[Ed P]

In my neck of the woods there were often a number of 11 plus real successes who opted to go to Technical School. A fair proportion of these did so due to parental pressure (father was a plumber, electrician etc and wanted son to follow). On the female side, many parents wanted them to do Accountancy or Shorthand and Typing etc. – definitely non-pc in today’s terms. IIRC there were inter-school transfers at 13 and 15 for those who did not fit into this for one reason or another. It actually was very like the German system and worked extremely well and as a result no Tech children ever thought themselves failures (unfortunately the story was perhaps not so good for those who failed both systems, but the 13+ and 15+ transfers still existed (both ways) for those as well. The main positive to all this was that the very disruptive kids were all in one geographically separate school with teachers who knew how to handle them (often ex-Army PE types), so both tech and grammar kids benefited, and a lot of upward social movement took place as a result.

It was unfortunately far more expensive than the less optimal Comprehensive system so was dropped by 1965.

[Ed P]

Richard I think your first post was spot-on. Individual thinking, and questioning custom and practice were/are generally frowned on in the Civil Service. The system dates back to the Victorian days where the man at the high desk doles out the work to his clerks, and everything is done by the book – irrespective if the book was written in Victorian days or is wrong. That at least was my main reason for striking the Civil Service off the list of potential post-grad employers.

Judging by my wife’s experiences fighting the DWP etc as a CAB volunteer it has not changed very much, and the country now suffers with far more self inflicted bureaucracy than it did when I left the UK (much of it required by badly applied metrics, and their corresponding compliance  audit).

[Ed P]

Uses the .Net 2.1 framework, but is all C++, and may give you some graphics engine clues, or bit you can pilfer.

“This is the repo for the bepuphysics v2 library, a complete rewrite of the C# 3d rigid body physics engine BEPUphysics v1.”

 

[Ed P]

I do not know how usable it is but this Physics library has a very impressive demo!

[Ed P]

Richard wrote:

I am not sure, are the crash investigation lot (a) still in existence

They still exist, but I would guess that other than a handful of 50+ people, most are cheapo graduates getting experience before moving on to better pay and less hide-bound conditions.

I was very fortunate as an undergraduate to do vacation work in a Government lab and it put me off the Civil Service for life!

[Ed P]

It is pay and conditions that cause the problem in the FAA. Knowing the disparaging way that our Civil Service look down on the technical arms, I would suspect that the position is MUCH worse in our own CAA.

However, whether within or outside the Civil Service such bodies must be independent and on a par with High Court Judges and Law Lords.

[Ed P]

I think it is probably reasonable to include a fair quote from the ‘Flying’ web site:

“The agency said, “The noted condition presents an immediate danger to pilots and passengers of Cirrus Design Corporation Model SF50 airplanes because an uncommanded pitch down may be difficult to recover from in some flight regimes with potentially fatal consequences. The before-further-flight compliance time and need to replace the AOA (Angle of Attack) sensors due to the potentially fatal consequences does not allow for prior notice and opportunity to comment for the public.”

It is a pity that the FAA cannot afford to employ the required expertise, otherwise the Boeing passengers may have been protected. I wonder if our CAA have similar problems to the FAA with recruiting and retaining aeronautical/instrument/computer technicians. The Cirrus thing only came to light after three identical near misses which fortunately the pilots were able to survive, despite the ‘bitey dog’ anti-pilot interference systems.

If the latter quote is obscure it refers to an explanation in the IEEE report that ‘modern’ control systems take positive action to ensure that the pilot has a hell of a job to take action contrary to that mandated by the computer control. (Really scary!). The writer referred to this as the ‘bitey dog’ that snaps at the pilot.

[Ed P]

A correction is probably called for as my posts kept referring to pitot tubes as the problem. In fact it appears that the pitch/angle of attack sensor has been the cause of the 737Max issues and this is rather like a movable vane attached to the aircraft. However as a mechanical element which is exposed to the elements it needs regular service and calibration as do the electrical elements that pick up the actual vane orientation.

Of interest the FAA has just issued a grounding order to a make of small executive jets (Cirrus Vision) for similar Boeing type reasons. link

[Ed P]

I did a little research into the latest digital instrument control, but the more I read the less I understand the comments on Thales lack of understanding, or how Boeing could even dream of using the output from just one sensor. In essence modern instrumentation control recognises that all sensors have a lot of spurious noise, and they use a combination of Kalman filters coupled with Bayesian analysis to sort the wheat from the chaff. (Simply put Kalman filters smooth out the readings and Bayesian analysis rejects unlikely readings). Unfortunately it does not matter what fancy corrections you apply if the mechanical pitch sensor gets stuck or jammed up with ice (something that is apparently a known fault with the Boeing sensor), a voting system is then needed in which the system selects the most likely accurate sensor then compares this with knowledge from other instrumentation. e.g. the altimeter!

For those interested there is a primer on Github, and a lot of it is in relatively simple language.

[Ed P]

If Corbyn gets through his preferred deal of a Customs Union then BAE etc will be very happy as will the car industry workers. Even the DUP will be happy as it pretty much removes any hard border threat. It will only be those looking for a mythical democracy who will be upset.

[Ed P]

IEEE has just published a simple guide to what became a massive design and human factors cock-up. link

[Ed P]

Hopefully things will improve in the future. There seems to be a definite link with the cold sore virus, and there are some big  trials using an anti-viral at early stage diagnosis. Taiwan has led the way with over 100,000 people in trial, I think (?) there is also a small-scale trial taking place in the Newcastle area.

[Ed P]

As Richard says there are many different forms and prognosis for this affliction. The ones I knew all went through similar stages regressing back through the various life milestones eventually winding up as ‘babies’ unable even to swallow food. The worst phase seems to be the teenage equivalent especially with those prone to aggression. All in all a very unpleasant way to end a life, and one where I think voluntary euthanasia while still capable of decision making would be the kindest way out for many.

[Ed P]

I agree Dave – tactical voting in a GE is the way to go, and the only way I will see change in my area.

Incidentally no-one should look for trends in Local Council Elections as most people vote for the person and not a party, in fact I think political parties should be banned at local/district level as they just distort good decision making.

[Author]

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